The introductory chapter of Discover the World Wide Web with Your Sportster, Second Edition, provides a commentary on the present state of the Internet and the World Wide Web. In the above reference, it is stated that the Internet is in need of an application which will transform the "much-hyped but difficult-to-use linking of computers around the world to being a highly informative, highly usable database and communications tool." It is further stated that the various available Web browsers (e.g. Mosaic and Netscape Navigator) all have difficulties and limitations which make them insufficient to handle the complexity of the Internet.
Part of the problem is in the complexity of addressing a resource on the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web uses an addressing system known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that defines the Location of a resource on the Internet. URLs are comprised of up to four parts: a protocol, a domain name, a path, and a filename. The combination of these four parts can produce a complex address for a resource. For example, the address for information on two-way pagers or the Motorola home page is:
http://www.mot.com/MIMS/MSPG/Products/Two-way/tango/desc.html.
Another part of the problem is in the rapid increase of the number of entities and the number of resources on the World Wide Web. Many entities are finding that domain names which they desire are already reserved. As a result, some entities have to purchase their desired domain name from another holder, or have to reserve a less than desirable domain name. Further, as the number of resources increases, newly-formed URLs become less intuitive and greater in length.
Resolving the problem of address complexity becomes even more important as various companies propose Internet navigation systems for the masses. For example, Netscape Communications Corporation has recently announced the formation of an independent software company to weave its technology into such consumer goods as telephones, televisions, and game machines.